QUESTION (from a 38-year old, self-employed, married man; earning over $70,000 per year):
Why would I need disability insurance? If I got sick, I can get EI benefits, right?
QUICK ANSWER:
Yes, if injured or sick, you can file a disability claim through Employment Insurance. If approved you would receive 55% of your weekly income, up to $573 per week. With a personal plan, you would have the option to protect much more of your income.
MY RESPONSE:
Thankfully you chose to enrol in the EI program, so you have that as a safety net, for unexpected occurrences. It does have its limitations, though. As of 2020, the EI benefit is 55% of your salary up to a maximum of $573 per week (resulting in $2,865 in a 5-payment month, or $2,292 in a 4-payment month). In your case this only amounts to less than half of your monthly net pay. If you feel comfortable living on half of your pay, and/or if you have enough savings to last several months, then that is great. I would suggest you may want to consider protecting more of your income. With a personal plan you could receive up to 85% of your income (about $4,000 per month) if you suffered an injury or illness that lasted at least 30 days.
If you are concerned that you will not make a claim, you can also add a “partial return of premium” feature to your plan where you would receive a partial refund of your premium after a number of years, provided you have made few or no claims.